Packers to Offer 'Ownership' Shares for $300; 6th Stock Sale in Franchise History

The Green Bay Packers will offer fans the chance to buy "ownership" stocks in the team for $300 apiece, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN, though he added the shares will "have no value, pay no dividend and allow no say in team matters."

Demovsky noted that the team has held similar sales in 1923, 1935, 1950, 1997 and 2011. 

Because the Packers are publicly owned and don't have one owner to infuse money into the franchise, the NFL will allow the team to hold stock sales from time to time, though the money "can be used only for things like stadium and facilities improvement projects and cannot be used for operating expenses or anything involving players," per Demovsky.

Per team bylaws, no one person is permitted to hold more than 200,000 shares in the team. Currently, 5,009,479 shares are held by a total of 361,362 stockholders.

In the latest sale, 300,000 more shares will reportedly be made available. Individuals will be capped at purchasing 200 shares, which will include any they may have bought in 1997 or 2011. 

"We appreciate the interest that fans have expressed in our sixth stock offering," Packers president Mark Murphy said in a statement Monday. "While we are not yet in a position to fully discuss the offering, we do have some initial information that we can share for fans to consider. We look forward to formally launching the offering tomorrow."

The Packers have a seven-person executive committee, headed by Murphy, and a 42-person board of directors.

Per the team's website, "Green Bay Packers Inc. has been a publicly owned, nonprofit corporation since Aug. 18, 1923, when original articles of incorporation were filed with Wisconsin's secretary of state."

The Packers are the only publicly owned team in any of the four major sports leagues in the U.S. (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL).